The present invention is generally directed to toner processes, and more specifically, to chemical processes which involve the aggregation and fusion of latex resin, wax particles, colorant like pigment or dye, and additive particles into toner in the presence of a coagulant, wherein the coagulant is a cationically stabilized wax dispersion, followed by heating below about the resin Tg to provide toner size aggregates, followed by the addition of a base, and thereafter heating the aggregates above the resin Tg to provide coalesced toner particles. More specifically, the present invention is directed to the preparation of toner particles wherein there is selected as a coagulant a cationic wax dispersion, and wherein there is optionally added to the wax dispersion an additional cationic surfactant, which surfactant is the same as that used for the wax dispersion, such as an alkyl benzyl ammonium halide like a chloride, or can be a different cationic surfactant.
Toners prepared by the process of the present invention possess a number of advantages as compared to a number of the toners generated by known emulsion aggregation processes, which advantages include, for example, the ability to produce a fused glossy image without a polyaluminum halide as a coagulant, the synthesis of a wax containing toner wherein the wax is fully incorporated into the toner without the use of polyaluminum halide as a coagulant, and wherein the resulting toner can contain an about 20 to about 50 percent of a crosslinked resin.
The toners generated with the processes of the present invention are especially useful for imaging processes, especially xerographic processes, which usually require toner transfer efficiency in excess of greater than about 90 percent, such as those with a compact machine design without a cleaner or those that are designed to provide high quality colored images with excellent image resolution, acceptable signal-to-noise ratio, and image uniformity.